the social-media-landscape-in-brazil
TRANSCRIPT
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THE SOCIAL MEDIA LANDSCAPE IN BRAZIL
EDITORIAL
Uyen Nguyen
DESIGN
Sarah Kang
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tel: (917) 933-7800
CONTENTS
03 Introduction
04 The Market Overview
06 The Social Media Landscape
08 Some Tips for Global Success
10 Brazil: Your Next Step
© Sprinklr 2015. All rights reserved.
THE SOCIAL MEDIA LANDSCAPE IN BRAZIL
sprinklr.com [email protected] (917) 933-7800© Sprinklr 2015. All rights reserved.
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INTRODUCTION
Let’s play a little word association. What terms come up when you think of “Brazil”? Most likely futebol, caipirinhas, and samba. Well now, it’s time to add meios de comunicação sociais – social media – to that list.
Maybe you’re a large enterprise that has mastered the art of social in one or two international markets. Or maybe you’re a younger company exploring beyond your borders for the very first time. Either way, you’ve got your sights set on expanding your global digital presence, but you’re not exactly sure how (or where) to proceed.
In this whitepaper, we explain why Brazil could be – should be – your next social media frontier.
THE SOCIAL MEDIA LANDSCAPE IN BRAZIL
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THE GENERAL LANDSCAPE
To understand the opportunity for brands in Brazil, you’ll first need to understand the overall landscape. There are a few factors at play that make Brazil a leading candidate for global expansion.
LARGE (AND YOUTHFUL) POPULATION
Brazil is not only the sixth most populous country in the world with 202 million inhabitants, it’s also home to a rather young population. Around 85% of the country is under the age of 55 and 40% is under the age of 25. To put things in perspective, only 33% of the United States’, 32% of China’s, and 30% of the United Kingdom’s population are under the age of 25.
HOPEFUL ECONOMY
Over the past few years, Brazil has been solidifying its position as the superpower of South America. It’s currently ranked eighth worldwide in terms of GDP (purchasing power parity) with $3.073 trillion USD, beating all other South American countries. But it’s not all roses and sunshine for Brazil. About one-fifth of the population lives below the poverty line, the unemployment rate rose to 5.9% from 5.1% last year, and the country is currently fighting its way through a recession.
Despite these uncertainties, economists still maintain a positive long-term outlook for the country. As Jose Carlos Faria, chief Brazil economist for Deutsche Bank, said in April 2015, “the economy is undergoing important adjustments that are necessary to shore up confidence and pave the way for a future recovery.” Looks like things might get slightly worse before they get better, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
QUICK FACTS ABOUT BRAZIL
202,000,000inhabitants
85%under the age of 55
40%under the age of 25
8thin worldwide GDP ranking
Source: CIA Factbook, 2015.
THE SOCIAL MEDIA LANDSCAPE IN BRAZIL
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AVID INTERNET USAGE
The internet penetration rate in Brazil isn’t ideal. Less than half of Brazilians (48%) use the internet. When compared to the United States, where 87% of the population is online, a 48% penetration rate doesn’t look great. That being said, it’s still nearly 100 million people that access the internet – certainly not a meager number by any account.
Those who do use the internet, really, really, really use it.
Among internet users, the exposure rate is intense – 76% of internet users access the internet every day, logging on for an average of 5 hours on weekdays and 4.5 hours on weekends. When you look into specific demographics, the exposure rate increases dramatically. About 72% of those with higher education, for example, access the internet every day, spending an average of nearly six hours surfing the web daily.
Internet usage has also been steadily climbing in recent years. In 2014, only 26% of Brazilians used the internet every day; one year later, that number jumped to 37%.
Brazil might not lead the world in terms of internet penetration, but it pulls in impressive engagement numbers. And as the Brazilian economy improves and the middle class expands – it grew 50% within the past decade – we expect to see more internet users, and consequently more social media users.
NO FIREWALL
When companies start thinking globally, China is an obvious market choice. The super-duper-superpower nation ranks in the top three worldwide in GDP. It also holds the largest population worldwide with 1.3 billion inhabitants.
76%of users access the internet every day
5 hoursspent online daily (during weekdays)
4.5 hoursspent online daily (during weekends)
QUICK FACTS ABOUT BRAZIL’S INTERNET USERS
Source: Secretaria De Communicação Social Da Presidência Da República, 2015.
THE SOCIAL MEDIA LANDSCAPE IN BRAZIL
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Unfortunately, censorship under the The Golden Shield Project – popularly dubbed “The Great Firewall” – makes it difficult for foreign brands to break through, especially when it comes to digital. Sites like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and Google+ (really, the entire Google world) are still blocked in China. So if the majority of your brand’s social presence is rooted in any of these major networks, you’ll find yourself in a bit of a predicament.
Brazil, on the other hand, is very much Facebook-philic. In fact, the majority of the go-to social networks your brand already uses are openly welcomed. This makes Brazil an easier (and arguably more logical) passageway into the global scene.
THE SOCIAL MEDIA LANDSCAPE
Now that you have a broad overview of Brazil ’s general landscape, let’s take a deeper dive into the current internet and social media scene. How are people spending time on the internet? To keep up with the news, to study, and of course, to socialize. If someone has access to the internet, he or she is almost certainly on social media. Among internet users in Brazil, 92% are connected to social networks.
Here’s what you need to know about these Brazilian social media users:
THEY’RE YOUNG
According to a study of 1,500+ internet users, social networking is a regular habit for 90% of people between the ages of 15 and 32. On average, this age group has seven social media profiles – the main ones being Facebook, where 96% have a profile, followed by YouTube (79%), Google + (67%), and Twitter (64%).
THEY’RE VERY SOCIAL
The average time spent on social media each day (among social media users) is 3.8 hours. In the United States, that number is just 2.7. A large number of internet users also report being always connected to social networking apps: 89% are continually logged onto Facebook, 87% on WhatsApp, and 63% on Instagram.
BRAZIL’S SOCIAL MEDIA USERS ARE ALWAYS CONNECTED TO SOCIAL
Source: Latin Link, 2014.
87%are always connected to WhatsApp
63%are always connected to Instagram
89%are always connected to Facebook
THE SOCIAL MEDIA LANDSCAPE IN BRAZIL
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25% FACEBOOK
22% FACEBOOK MESSENGER*
24% WHATSAPP*
10% INSTAGRAM*
13% GOOGLE+
11% TWITTER
14% SKYPE
9% LINKEDIN
6% PINTEREST
6% BADOO
THEY’RE STILL IN LIKE WITH FACEBOOK
Facebook ended 2014 with 91 million monthly users in Brazil, compared to 83 million at the beginning of 2014. This growth is quite impressive, since there are rumors of Facebook losing popularity in other leading markets. A study conducted by researchers at Princeton University, for example, predicted that the site would lose 80% of its peak userbase by 2017. In Brazil, however, Zuckerberg’s brainchild is thriving. It’s still the most widely used social media platform; one quarter of Brazil ’s total population used the network in January 2015.
FACEBOOK IS STILL THE #1 SOCIAL NETWORK IN BRAZIL
percentage of the total national population using different social networking or messaging platforms in January 2015
MOST IMPORTANTLY: THEY TRUST THIS MEDIUM
Social media isn’t just a mindless recreational activity in Brazil – it’s a trusted establishment. In a survey of 2,800+ subjects in 172 municipalities, social media was reported as the second most reliable institution (63%). It landed behind the press by just two points (65%), and was miles ahead of congress (19%) and political parties (18%). This trust presents a huge opportunity for brands to build long-term relationships with audience members via digital channels.
Source: We Are Social, 2015.
*applications owned by Facebook
THE SOCIAL MEDIA LANDSCAPE IN BRAZIL
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SOME TIPS FOR GLOBAL SUCCESS
Global domination requires planning. So if you do make the choice to head to Brazil, there are a few things to keep in mind as you start preparing.
COMPREHENSIVE GOVERNANCE
It’s one thing to manage your employees’ social media activities when everyone is sitting in a centralized location; it’s quite another when they’re thousands of miles away.
In order for everyone to communicate in one unified brand voice – while being aware of the compliance requirements unique to your industry and market – and to do this all in real-time, you’ll need a sophisticated governance structure. This means the ability to quickly route messages through all the necessary checkpoints, configure user roles and permissions, proactively react to crisis situations, and more.
Once you go global, having a bird’s-eye view of your social media program will be more difficult, and important, than ever. Governance isn’t something you should leave until the last minute to plan out.
UNIFIED REPORTING
One of the setbacks of relying on disparate point solutions (or native apps) is the lack of unified reporting. The most you can do with this setup is to cobble together different reports, after quite a bit of mucking around in the data, and hope for the best.
There’s no guarantee that the data sets are congruent with one another. And you can’t always pull the metrics your team needs – you simply get what you get. This isn’t sustainable as your social media team grows.
To avoid these hassles, having all your social networks, teams, and campaigns on the same platform is recommended. Unified reporting, via a integrated platform, allows you to track trends on markets, customers, product, and operations with a few mouse clicks – or swipes of your fingers. This means you’ll be able to reliably and validly report on the performance of your new market, then roll that up into an overarching report on your brand’s social health. No headaches necessary.
LOCAL REPRESENTATION
Brazil currently ranks 126th out of 183 countries in the World Bank’s annual global report on the ease of starting a business. It takes about 13 procedures and 119 days of work to start a business in Brazil. There’s also a handful of government corruption scandals making headlines regularly.
For these reasons, you’ll want to have someone on the scene as you build out your market presence in Brazil – whether that’s by leveraging a partner that offers support there or having your own people on the ground. Having a local representation, day in and day out, will be invaluable as you cut through all the red tape.
THE SOCIAL MEDIA LANDSCAPE IN BRAZIL
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CENTRALIZED ASSET MANAGEMENT
Following a colossal 2014 World Cup effort, Brazil will take center stage again as it hosts the Rio Olympic Games next year. This marketing dream-come-true only happens once every so often; for brands that want a piece of the action, cross-team collaboration is key.
Adidas, official sponsor of the World Cup, gave the world a perfect example of global collaboration last year. The brand went #allin and created a social experience that leveraged a massive amount of content. Around 1,000 images and 160 videos of 100+ Adidas-sponsored players, for instance, were created for use in real-time marketing opportunities. As the tournament unfolded, the brand’s social media team tapped into this content, profiling star players, tweeting about killer goals, and highlighting teams still in the running.
“It’s the first time we’ve seen an advertiser be reactive during a sporting event on YouTube,” said Rob Pilgrim, industry manager at Google London, remarking at the brand’s impressive ability to do real-time marketing with video. The numbers echoed Pilgrim’s sentiment. Adidas was the most talked about brand during the World Cup and saw an increase of 5.8 million followers across their social channels.
The 2016 Olympics offers brands a similar opportunity for marketing greatness. But in order to successfully pull off a massive, integrated campaign that involves different teams in different regions, you’ll need to streamline your collaboration. This means instituting a sophisticated workflow structure to expedite approvals. It also means establishing a centralized location for all your content and digital assets.
There are a few ways to achieve this – a simple Dropbox folder will go a long way if you’re thinking small-scale. For global brands wanting to go the Adidas route, however, integrating an asset manager into your social media management platform is recommended. This will result in better workflow, more accurate reporting, and optimized communication among your internal team.
INTEGRATION ACROSS YOUR TECHNOLOGIES
We’ve dropped the word “integrate” a few times in this whitepaper. There’s a reason for this. You need integration across your technologies in order to win in Brazil (or really any global market).
If you’re using one tool for social monitoring, but another for analytics, and yet another for engagement – the list goes on – you’re not maximizing your potential on social. If anything, you’re setting yourself up for failure.
The main problem: these software pieces don’t really “talk” to one another. They don’t fit. That’s all fine, until you realize one day that you don’t have reliable data about your global social media presence, or a unified view of your global customers.
This is why it’s so vital to integrate your technologies. This can be done manually – you take it upon yourself to make sure all your social media tools synchronize with one another. Or you can partner with a full-service technology provider. The latter option gives you all the digital capabilities your brand needs. And even better: all these technologies operate on the same system and integrate naturally.
THE SOCIAL MEDIA LANDSCAPE IN BRAZIL
sprinklr.com [email protected] (917) 933-7800© Sprinklr 2015. All rights reserved.
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BRAZIL: YOUR NEXT STEP
We won’t lie to you: there’s room for improvement in Brazil – both politically and economically. But this doesn’t take away from the opportunities offered by the country. More and more of the Brazilian population is getting access to social networks each day. And once they log on, they stay connected. For brands that do their research and prepare thoroughly, it’s the chance to be at the forefront of the world’s next leading market.
If you’re looking to jump-start or enhance your global social media presence, now might be a good time to say “sim” to Brazil.
Sprinklr is the most complete enterprise social media management technology in the world, purpose-built for large companies to drive business outcomes and manage customer experiences across all touch points. Called “the most powerful technology in the market” by Forrester Research, Sprinklr’s fully integrated social media management software powers more than four billion social connections across 77 countries. Headquartered in New York City with more than 550 employees globally, Sprinklr is revolutionizing customer engagement for more than 750 top enterprise brands, including IHG, Intel, Microsoft, Samsung, and Virgin America, and partners like Deloitte, Accenture, R/GA, Golin, and AKQA. For more information, visit sprinklr.com or tweet us @sprinklr.
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